Royal Mail is pulling out the stops in its seasonal drive to deliver Christmas to its customers. Today the business announced it is recruiting 20,000 temporary workers to help transport, sort and deliver the additional parcels and mail the company expects to process over the festive period.
There are 12,000 mail centre sorting roles available in England, 2,000 in Scotland, 600 in Wales and 400 in Northern Ireland.
The temporary positions will be located in two parcel hubs, four seasonal parcel sort centres and 37 mail centres across the country, with a variety of shifts available.
A total 118,000 sqm of extra temporary space – equivalent to 16.5 football pitches – has been created across the four seasonal parcel sort centres located in Atherstone, Milton Keynes, Northampton and Daventry.
The seasonal recruits will help sort the growing number of online shopping orders expected before they are taken to Royal Mail’s 1,200 Delivery Offices.
There are also 3,000 delivery and collection roles available across the country and 2,000 temporary HGV and MGV driver’s roles.
Royal Mail Interim Chief Operating Officer, Jamie Stephenson, said: “As we do every year, we will be pulling out all the stops to make Christmas special for our customers. It’s the busiest time for us, and we work tirelessly behind the scenes—planning months in advance—to ensure everything runs smoothly. From delivering festive parcels to supporting online shopping, we’re investing heavily in extra resources, including thousands of seasonal team members, to help make sure every delivery arrives on time and with care.”
The seasonal roles will run from late October through to early January 2026. The period for the additional temporary work includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday but will be at its peak in December. Parcelforce Worldwide is also recruiting additional drivers and indoor workers.
The company is encouraging applications from people looking to earn extra income for the festive season, inviting them to come and join the Royal Mail teams across the UK delivering Christmas to its customers. No previous experience is required, and shift working is available.
The roles offer competitive pay rates and the opportunity for longer-term work.
Delivering Christmas
Royal Mail has been preparing for months to deliver a bumper Christmas.
The company will be adding to the fleet of 48,200 vehicles (including 7,000 EVs) with an additional 6,800 hire vans to support this year’s seasonal campaign. In addition, over 1,200 road haulage contractors are being hired to transport the festive mail and parcels across the country.
Royal Mail has the biggest network of parcel points to make it as convenient as possible for customers to collect, send and return parcels. There are almost 24,000 locations including 2,000 lockers, 7,800 Collect+ shops, 11,500 Post Office branches, 1,200 Royal Mail Customer Service Points and 1,400 parcel postboxes.
Royal Mail has also made it easier to use its 115,000 postboxes to send smaller parcels that will fit through a letterbox, enabling customers to request proof of posting using the Royal Mail app, and is rolling out 3,500 postboxes of the future designed to accept larger parcels up to the size of a shoebox.
Dedicated website:
Royal Mail has set up a dedicated website for people to apply for the Christmas positions, https://careers.royalmailgroup.com/gb/en/seasonal-roles alternatively they can email Christmas_helpline@royalmail.com
